Day 7 - 5/2
We took a break from hiking on this day and instead played tourist in the area. We woke up at 6:30 and I started my day with a dip in the hotel's outdoor onsen. What a great, relaxing way to start the day! We enjoyed another Japanese style breakfast and quickly packed up our hiking backpacks. We left for our Japanese riverboat tour which lasted about an hour and a half, during which we enjoyed some lush landscapes, unique rock formations, and waterfalls that I wouldn't be able to help but stare at for hours if given the opportunity. Our tour guide even played a Japanese, bamboo flute for us during an especially scenic part of our tour!
After the tour, we visited our first temple, which was rather small compared to our second temple of the day. So I'll skip right to our second temple experience!
The next temple's touring route began at the base of a long set of ancient, stone steps that gave our legs another solid workout, even though it paled in comparison to the three mountains we climbed previously. The ruinous look of the temple stairs gave a trapped-in-time sort of feel as we treaded upwards toward our destination. The temple we were visiting is the head temple of all the temples along the Kumano trail and the trail's final destination, so the temple was particularly large and impressive, with large torii gates all around the paths leading up to it. This temple is also famous for it's enormous waterfall - I think the highest in Japan - which falls from 330m up in the air! The views from this temple at the peak were spectacular and worth every step of the climb.
We then proceeded to the most luxurious ryokan of our trip: a ryokan on its own private island that served sashimi made for royalty and outdoor onsens overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We are truly blessed to have been able to stay at a place like that and we enjoyed every minute of it. (Even as I typed this, I was able to look out of our room's window and over the bay to see the mainland's town lights shining across the water for a beautiful midnight display. I wish we could have shared this experience with more people!
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| Another pic of the view from our hotel room |
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| Our breakfast |
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| Joe and Ross started the morning off with some ping-pong |
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| The river had carp pendants draped over it. We thought it might be for a festival |
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| Our boat tour |
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| Our first (smaller) temple |
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| A close-up of the impressive, wooden samurai statue |
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| The beginning of the climb up the ancient steps |
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| The view from the top! |
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| A large torii gate at the top |
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| On the ferry to our island |
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| A view of the bay from our room that evening |
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